Girl Spinning

One of the things that interests me in photography is how to create movement within still images. I find that using photoshop gives you a lot of opportunity to take boring images and make them into something a bit more unusual or special. In the image above a girl is basically spinning when a selection of photographs were taken. There is nothing exceptional about these images. In two of them you can't even see her face.

I was messing around with some templates that I had on my computer and came up with a design for the frame above. I realised that if I could put these images in the frame and create a sort of montage then the images took on a new life as a single design. I muted the colours (this is another theme in my work) outside the inner boxes. That left anything inside the frames brighter. This meant that I didn't need to have a completely white border (which has been done so many times before) but at the same time, having the image continue over the frames did not distract the viewer from the images within.

I think that when you look at the image you can sense a feeling of movement and energy in the picture. At least that was the plan.

I think that photoshop can do wonders with shots that you have maybe given up on. So have a look again at any photos you have that you thought were duds and see if they can be given a new lease of life as part of a more complete design. The best thing to do is visualize what you hope to achieve with your chosen images and keep the technical stuff as simple as possible. A little can go a long way. The above image was created with an original frame template, two layers, the opacity button and the curves grid. Go on, give it a go. See what you can create.